DUBLIN, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A spokesman of the Irish Foreign Ministry on Friday confirmed the expulsion of an Irish diplomat in Russia and described the decision as "regrettable".
Local media RTE quoted the spokesman as saying that there was no justification for the expulsion as the Irish diplomat instructed to leave Russia did not engage in activities which were incompatible with his diplomatic status.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Irish government announced expulsion of a Russian diplomat in Dublin in solidarity with Britain and other European Union member states over a so-called military-grade nerve toxin attack on a former Russian agent and his daughter in Britain's southern city of Salisbury on March 4.
The Russian Ambassador to Ireland, Yuri Filatov, said immediately after the Irish government's announcement that the decision to expel the Russian diplomat would "not go unanswered."
The Irish government's decision to expel a Russian diplomat was criticized by some opposition parties in the country, which all described the decision as a bad violation of the country's neutrality.
Opposition party Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin said that "we have never expelled diplomats in solidarity with somebody else, unless Ireland or Irish citizens were directly affected."
Earlier in March, the British government accused Russia of involvement in a nerve toxin attack on the ex-Russian double spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, which left both of them critically ill, but the Russian authorities have denied the accusation.
Latest reports said that the daughter of Skripal is getting better after spending three weeks in a critical condition at hospital due to the nerve toxin attack, but her father still remains in a critical but stable condition.
